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Kokocha Flies In Whilst Two Hearts Gets Closer

Posted 24/7/2019

            Great to get a couple of runners out in the last few days and both were in the money as our 3yo filly Kokocha raced over 1800m at La Teste De Buch in France whilst Two Hearts tested himself on the tapeta surface at Wolverhamption over the minimum distance.          

            As we all know, Bordeaux is famous for its quality wine which improves with age as it matures. On Saturday at La Teste De Buch, a French racecourse situated to the South West of the capital of viniculture, our Kokocha continued to show signs of improvement as she works through her three year old career. Sixth on debut in February followed by a fifth, a fourth and a third, she came to La Teste with a fair chance of being in the first three and so it proved as she led all the way for a victory by one and three quarters of a length. True, it was only a modest claimer but the form of the horses in the places is not too bad and I have personally seen third placed Alexander win twice at the Lasarte track in Donostia-San Sebastian with the Spanish Jockey Club giving him a rating of 35 which equates to 77 in terms of lbs. The fancied horses finished to the fore and the time was relatively quick which leads me to suspect that the form is not bad coupled with the manner of her victory as she led all the way and, when the pursuers came to challenge, she went on again under a very competent ride by Jordan Plateaux. France Galop raised her rating to 30.5 (67) which I think is fair and, if she continues to mature like the splendid vin rouges of the area there is no reason to suppose she can not go in again.Julie leads in Kokocha ridden by Jordan Plateaux after winning at La Teste De Buch on 20th JulyJulie leads in Kokocha ridden by Jordan Plateaux after winning at La Teste De Buch on 20th July

            By taking this race, Kokocha maintained our record of all James Ortega Bloodstock's Bated Breath bred offspring winning, following in the footsteps of Ekhtiyaar, who is rated 110 and was a Group 3 second behind Blue Point this year, and Kaanoon who is rated 98. Our fourth Bated Breath horse is a yearling filly out of Group 3 winner Birthstone who will be sold at the yearling sales later this year and then we have a filly foal out of Danehill Dancer mare Chicita Banana who has already produced a stakes performer.

            It was a great day for our colours whether they were the UK or the French version. When becoming a French owner, our UK colours were already taken by Alain Chopard so we decided to make a slight adjustment by removing the epaulettes and putting a purple seam on to the silks. As one of owner breeder M. Chopard's horses won on the day both versions managed to get their heads in front!A very happy groom with the heroine chilling out after the raceA very happy groom with the heroine chilling out after the race

                        I don't think they grow too much wine near Wolverhampton but our Two Hearts came out for his fourth outing and first in a nursery handicap at the tapeta track on Tuesday. He sneaked into the race off a lowly 43 handicap and indeed was 2lbs out of the handicap, but he was still 16lbs better in with his conqueror at Catterick in his previous run when Blitzle beat him 5 lengths. Breaking well he was up amongst the front runners all the way but could not muster enough speed to overhaul the winner who appears to be on the upgrade and, according to trainer Ollie Pears, preferred the Wolves track to the Catterick one as she is a bigger type of filly not so suited to Catterick's undulations and tightness. Finishing again in third place, Two Hearts ran his race and halved the margin by which Blitzle previously beat him so we were not too disappointed although clearly he is no world beater. Whilst his dam was all speed and a 5f specialist, it may be he just needs a bit further so we are likely to test him over 6f next time out.

            Without doubt the runs of Kokocha and Two Hearts gave us more than enough excuse to uncork a nice bottle of red last night although I have to admit it was one of our favourite Ribera Del Duero versions rather than a Bordeaux. La prochaine fois un Bordeaux!